NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India has launched a new air quality index to help citizens understand complex pollution data and its implications for their health, the environment minister said on Friday.

A World Health Organization (WHO) study of 1,600 cities released in May found India’s capital New Delhi had the world’s dirtiest air with an annual average of 153 micrograms of small particulates, known as PM2.5, per cubic meter.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Tobacco companies in India will have to stamp pictorial and text health warnings across 85 percent of the surface of cigarette packs, the health ministry said on Wednesday, joining nations such as Thailand and Australia with stringent marketing rules.

Between 800,000 and 900,000 Indians die every year of diseases related to tobacco use, the government said in 2010. That number could reach 1.5 million by 2020 if users cannot drop the habit, the International Tobacco Control Project estimates.

NEW DELHI, Oct 13 (Reuters) – Indian companies and global
health groups are stepping up efforts to provide a critical
medicine for the country’s free HIV/AIDS drugs programme after
more than 150,000 patients risked going without their dosages
this month.

Delayed tender approvals and poor co-ordination with states
left the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) scrambling
for supplies. Reuters reported on Oct. 1 that the supplies were
due to run out next week.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India could run out of a critical medicine in its free HIV/AIDS drugs program in three weeks due to bureaucratic bungling, a senior government official said, leaving more than 150,000 sufferers without life-saving drugs for about a month.

Missed dosages for long durations can increase patients’ drug resistance and result in faster spread of the virus, while changes in medication regimens expose patients to side effects.

NEW DELHI, Oct 1 (Reuters) – India could run out of a
critical medicine in its free HIV/AIDS drugs programme in three
weeks due to bureaucratic bungling, a senior government official
said, leaving more than 150,000 sufferers without life-saving
drugs for about a month.

Missed dosages for long durations can increase patients’
drug resistance and result in faster spread of the virus, while
changes in medication regimens expose patients to side effects.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa Jayaram was sentenced to four years in jail on Saturday in a high-profile corruption case that has lasted nearly two decades.

The verdict against the former movie star, who is one of the most popular politicians in south India, delighted some supporters of rival parties who were beaten in the general election held earlier this year.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – The chief minister of India’s Tamil Nadu state was sentenced to four years in jail on Saturday in a high-profile corruption case that has lasted nearly two decades.

The verdict against Jayalalithaa Jayaram, a former movie star who is one of the most popular politicians in south India, delighted some supporters of rival parties who were beaten in the general election held earlier this year.

NEW DELHI, Sept 26 (Reuters) – As India celebrated becoming
the first Asian nation to reach Mars, S.M. Vaidya, head of
business at conglomerate Godrej’s aerospace division that made
the spacecraft’s engine and thruster components, sounded
surprisingly downbeat.

The mission was, indeed, a major achievement, he said, and
one of which the state-run Indian Space Research Organisation
(ISRO) should be proud.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s low-cost mission to Mars successfully entered the red planet’s orbit on Wednesday, crowning what Prime Minister Narendra Modi said was a “near impossible” push to become the only country to complete the trip on its maiden attempt.

The Mars Orbiter Mission was achieved on a budget of $74 million, nearly a tenth of the amount the U.S. space agency NASA spent on sending the Maven spacecraft to Mars.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s low-cost mission to Mars successfully entered the red planet’s orbit on Wednesday, crowning what Prime Minister Narendra Modi said was a “near impossible” push to complete the trip on its maiden attempt.

The Mars Orbiter Mission cost $74 million (45 million pounds) or about three-quarters of the amount to make the Oscar-winning movie ‘Gravity’ about astronauts stranded in space.

About Aditya

"Aditya is part of the India politics, economy and general news team at the Reuters bureau in New Delhi. After joining Reuters in July 2008, Aditya spent nearly six years managing content and writing for the Reuters.com India edition. During 2013-14, he was closely involved in developing the website's India Insight platform, writing on topics ranging from business and politics to stocks and mutual funds. Follow him on Twitter @adityakalra"